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AFTER the 9/11 attacks in 2001, federal authorities in the US began compiling a list of people deemed a threat to airline security and therefore not to be allowed on board commercial flights. The no-fly list quickly grew beyond the likes of Osama bin Laden to include many other names and aliases, some of which were hardly unique.

There was, for example, a “T. Kennedy” on the list, as a result of which Senator Ted Kennedy was delayed on a number of flights, even though his given name is Edward. The list also included “Cat Stevens”, the former name of the …